Anatomy of a Gig #1 – John Bramwell (I Am Kloot) – Emma Webster

This first in a series – Anatomy of a Gig – introduces a space for people to comment objectively about live music events that they have attended, to build a resource for promoters and musicians on what works and what doesn’t work at a gig. In this way, the Anatomy of a Gig series will review the gig as a live music event rather than reviewing the music per se. Emma Webster kicks off with an account of a John Bramwell show.  

Pompey Pop – guest post by Dave Allen, University of Portsmouth

In the second of our guest blog posts, Dr Dave Allen from the University of Portsmouth writes about popular music in Portsmouth from 1944 till 1969.  For more about the project, see the website here, or read Dave’s excellent blog. Pompey Pop In 2010 I came to Edinburgh University to describe my project “Pompey Pop” which covers popular music in …  

Sonisphere 2012: why festivals get cancelled – Emma Webster

In the light of yesterday’s announcement that Kilimanjaro Live’s Sonisphere festival has been cancelled, today’s blog examines some of the factors that have caused the cancellation of festivals over the past few years. Sonisphere is not the only ‘big’ festival to cancel in 2012, of course – The Big Chill’s organisers, Festival Republic, announced in January that 2012 would be …  

Get into live music – or not . . . – Emma Webster

Get into live music – or not . . . Since I was little, I always wanted to be a live sound engineer and even now I can quite happily spend an evening watching the mixing desk rather than watching the band on stage.  I went to a gig last week and did exactly that, and it got me wondering: …  

Licensing to kill? – Adam Behr

More bad weather for the Edinburgh live music ecology, with chilly conditions across Scotland, and for other activities. The situation for local live music is already problematic given Edinburgh’s disappearing venue situation. Now, changes in the law to come into effect, appropriately enough, on April Fools’ Day threaten to put more tacks in the road for artists and enthusiast promoters …  

Surfing troubled waters: The ticketmasters and history’s web – Adam Behr

Last week’s Dispatches documentary about the secondary ticketing market has sent a squall of feedback through the public discussion channel on the live music sector, notwithstanding that some voices have been suggesting that the matter needed airing for some time now. Amongst them, our own Martin Cloonan has offered a substantive account of issues regarding the status of the ticket …  

Drumming out the Bongo… Edinburgh’s evaporating alternative venues – Adam Behr

Edinburgh sometimes feels like a ghost town after the Festival ­– a city with a hangover, figuratively and literally. After a theatrical and musical binge when it feels like every back room and every spare courtyard is a venue, we return to a shrunken version of Auld Reekie. Maybe it seems a bit early in the year to be making …